I just took a chance and bought a good condition 2002 Mercury Cougar for $700 with 140,000 miles on it. The problem it has is when driving, especially turning, it makes a very loud clunk/bang and both wheels jump at the same time. It seems to bind up then clunk. I have talked to 2 mechanics (friends and family) and one says there are knuckles where on the front axle that can go bad. He was a Honda mechanic, and was not sure though, he was just taking a guess, he has not seen it yet. The other has worked on a few, and when I said both wheels jump, he immediately said motor mount. He has no doubt in his mind. I'm going to jack it up tomorrow and look directly at a mount, which is supposedly gel filled, and if its burst I will replace all motor mounts, and hope that is all. For $700 I may have a great score; in good condition I see them for $2000-$3000.

I finally got the hood worked out, and guess what, its motor mounts! Reving it jumped around, and backing up, it jumps a lot, and it is the source of the bang. I'm so glad I bought it now, for $700 + a water pump + motor mounts I got a $3000 car. As long as nothing else comes up anyway. One thing though, it seems like the hood won't release with the plastic lever, I disconnected it, and pulled on it with my hand, and it pops right up. Is there any way to fix this?

I wish I could tell you more, when its in the plastic flapper thing it will not release even though it pulls out, and I see it pull the cable. I have it disconnected and I just pull the cable myself for now, and it releases easy and smooth.

Bert got around to where I was heading. If you can pull the cable by hand and it works, either the arm of the "flapper" has bent and the cable doesn't pull quite far enough, the release under the hood has its arm bent causing the same result, or a combination of the two.

The problem is the handle and cable in the cabin. The handle is cheap plastic, and the cable holder opens up, allowing the cable to move out of position. So when you pull on the handle, it does not release the cable itself.

Pop off the cover over the release handle, at the drivers side kick panel. Look behind the handle and you will see what I am talking about. See my horrible picture to get an idea.

The cable is just like any other cable, throttle cable, bike hand brake cable, ect. The cable itself is attached to the handle by having a looped end fit into a circle socket in the handle. And the cable guide is attached to the handle assembly that is attached to the kick panel. When you pull the handle, it pulls the cable through the guide and pops the hood. What is happening is your cable loop fell out of the handle itself, so nothing is happening when you pull it....the handle that is.

Reattach the cable loop in the handle socket and you will be fine. However, this will happen again. Get some zip ties and a small drill bit. Drill small holes around the cable socket so you can slide a few zip ties in, holding the cable in place. I did this a year ago and have not had any problems yet.

Thanks R.S Logan thats exactly the info I was looking for. Now I ran into a different issue, apparently parts stores have no idea what a motor or tranny mount looks like. I went in, and the only one they could get for a 5 speed manual was this weird T shaped rubber peice. I'm telling you there is no mount like that on mine, and the guy wont beleive it. Not only that, he says the rear and front are the same, when in reality the rear is some circle shaped thing that used to be filled with gel or something, while the front is a circle, but has a design that looks almost likes the Volkswagon logo inside. As well as I can see there is a rear tranny mount, front tranny mount, and a top motor mount on the passenger side. None of those three are sold it seems, but this weird shaped one is, WTH?!!! I can find them on ebay, and I may buy from there, but I hate buying parts from sketchy ebay people. Someone has had to have had to try and buy mounts before, how did you get them?

Edit: I see what looks like the front mount sold as the automatic trasmission mount

I'm feeling bad now, I tracked down a tranny mount (actually called an isolator) and got it for $120. The front one turned out to be the one I ordered, it was an insert in the mount. I put it all together, and I had an adrenaline rush backing up, but as soon as I started going forward there was a loud bang. To say I'm disappointed is an understatement. I jacked up one side and I am thinking the clunking has to be the problem. I only have experience working on trucks, and to me there is an acceptable amount of play (compared to my 94 ford explorer), however it does sound almost like shaking a box of rocks when turning the wheel. I am thinking the best option might be to buy a new (used) transmission and replace it. I will take it apart before buying one, but rebuilding one is really beyond my skill level, I'm just a bolt turner. I'll link a video of me turning the wheel and pointing the camera at the transaxle and you can hear the clunk. Also about half way through something happened and one tire would spin, the other wouldn't, then it went back to both wheels spinning (and the same direction).

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